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Saturday, 1 October 2016

Review - 'Luke Cage', S01E01 - 'Moment of Truth'

Marvel's partnership with Netflix has
already given us so many hours of quality entertainment (with two
seasons of Daredevil and one
of Jessica Jones, so
far) that it almost feels a bit greedy to want more. At the same
time, though, we already know that there is still plenty more to come
from this partnership – so, it seems as though that sense of
anticipation is actually entirely justified, in this case. Luke
Cage is the latest addition to
Netflix's corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – and, much like
with the earlier entries, it is a series which has promised its own
unique tone.

While it would have
to be fair to say that the first episode gets things off to a fairly
slow start, it is also true that the evidence of this unique tone is
fairly obvious, right from the first episode's opening moments –
with the combination of imagery and music in the opening credits
doing a great job establishing the tone and style.

From there, we are
quickly reintroduced to Luke Cage (Mike Colter), himself. Now a
fugitive doing whatever he can to stay under the radar, Luke is
clearly in a much worse place than he was throughout his time on
Jessica Jones – forced to work two jobs, for cash paid
'under the table', while struggling to cover his own expenses. His
sole confidante, it seems, is Pop (Frankie Faison) – the owner of a
Harlem barbershop, at which Luke works sweeping hair. Pop knows all
about Luke Cage, his past and his abilities, and he seems to truly
have Luke's best interests at heart – gently encouraging Luke to
begin to live something a little closer to a normal life. It is also
clear, right from the start, that Pop firmly believes that Luke
should be using his enhanced strength and his invulnerability to help
people ("just like the folks downtown") – something which
Luke is, perhaps understandably, very reluctant to take to heart.

While
Luke is, initially, very reluctant to involve himself in the lives of
those around him, though, it is not long we are introduced to the
adversary that he is destined to confront – Cornell 'Cottonmouth'
Stokes (Mahershala Ali). And, it's in these scenes that we see what
is, perhaps, the most interesting aspect of this first episode. Since
the audience has already had plenty of opportunity to learn who Luke
Cage is (even if there are, obviously, still some mysteries to be
revealed), the episode can actually afford to spend a roughly equal
amount of screen-time introducing 'Cottonmouth' (as, we are told, he
truly hates being called). In fact, it would even be fair to say that
it is actually Cornell Stokes who carries much of this first episode
– as, we are introduced to him just as his efforts to set himself
up as the 'King of Harlem' encounter a fairly significant road-block.

With an employee of Cornell's taking
the opportunity to crash an important arms deal, and making off with
a significant amount of money, Cornell finds himself momentarily
off-balance as he is forced to do whatever he can to salvage
relations with another criminal organisation, while also trying to
recover his stolen money. There is a strong sense, in this first
episode, that Cornell Stokes is not really the antagonist of the
series but, rather, that he is actually the protagonist of his own
story – and, it is genuinely fascinating. Obviously, this is likely
to change as Luke Cage and Cornell Stokes find themselves at odds –
but, for now, these scenes give the series the feel of a gritty crime
drama. When we are introduced to figures like the mysterious
'Diamondback', and his representative 'Shades' (Theo Rossi) – a
criminal who also has ties to Luke Cage.

Adding a further element of complexity
to the episode, we are also introduced to Misty Knight (Simone
Missick) – a police officer who appears to be investigating Cornell
Stokes. Then, there is also Mariah Dillard (Alfre Woodard), Cornell's
cousin, who has managed to make a name for herself in the political
scene of Harlem – but, who still seems to have found herself
tangled up in Cottonmouth's illicit dealings.

With so many factors already in play,
it is actually kind of interesting to see unaware Luke Cage actually
seems to be about what is occurring in Harlem – at least, initially.
As Luke seems content to simply get by as best he can, it is almost
as though the show's creators deliberately chose to set him up as the
least interesting aspect of his own series. There are moments, in the
episode, where Luke seems to exist firmly in the background of other
character's story-lines – with him having only a single, brief,
encounter with Cornell Stokes, and serving as a (perhaps ill-advised,
given the circumstances) one-night stand for Misty Knight. Of course,
this is a dynamic which does not last for long – as, by the end of
the episode, we already have Luke Cage beginning his transition into
a more active role as he makes his first move against the criminal
element of Harlem.

Overall, while this first episode of
Luke Cage did set a
deliberately slow pace for itself, it was still often genuinely
fascinating in spite of that – and, this is largely due to the
quality of the performances given by the cast. Mike Colter has
already had plenty of screen-time in which to establish himself as
Luke Cage, of course – but, he remains just as impressive, here, as
he ever was on Jessica Jones.
Misty Knight, with her flirtatious relationship with Luke Cage and
her 'no-nonsense' attitude to her police work, has already set
herself up as a genuinely entertaining character – with Simone
Missick giving an equally entertaining performance. Mariah Dillard
seems to have firmly mired herself in moral ambiguity, as she seems
to genuinely want the best for Harlem (or, at least, is capable of
giving a convincing performance in public appearance), while also
still willing to involve herself with her cousin. But, of them all,
it is Cornell Stokes who makes for the most fascinating figure –
with Mahershala Ali's portrayal of a man seemingly obsessed with
wealth and power coming across as confident, and genuinely
intimidating.

All
that being said, there were still a couple of minor issues that I had
with this first episode, though. For one, that scene in which Cornell
comes to stand in front of a picture of famous rapper, Biggie Smalls,
in such a way that it appears as though he is actually wearing the
crown in the picture just came across as awkwardly staged, to me. I
am well aware of the fact that I might be in the minority on that
point, but the not-too-subtle symbolism of the moment just struck me
as a bit contrived – and, I'm hoping that there isn't too much more
of that sort of thing, going forward. Also, the episode's early
conversations between Luke and Pop, in which Pop attempts to convince
Luke to put the past behind him and move on with his life, had the
feel of awkwardly written exposition.

But,
that's purely nitpicking, though – two minor points which took me
out of the moment in what was, otherwise, a genuinely great opening
episode. The first episode of Luke Cage
may have lacked some of the excitement what we had with the first
episode of Daredevil,
and the tense drama that we had with the first episode of Jessica
Jones. But, it makes up for that
by establishing its cast of characters with an impressive level of
care – and, I am genuinely interested in seeing how things develop,
from here.